MilitaryTuners

M–43
Las Vegas, NevadaUnited States

1976 Chevrolet Monza Spyder Hatchback

“Tazmanian Devil”

1996 Ford Mustang GT

“The Rumbler”

Head to Head

About “Tazmanian Devil”

This was my third Monza I have owned and it has stayed with me for many years. I bought it off the land my aunt owned that had to be cleared of all the old cars that was left on it since my uncle passed away and due to her letting Hollywood shoot a movie using her house. Believe it or not it was the house used in the movie Too Wong Fu with Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes, Chichi Rodreguez. Anyway before the movie shoot I bought the car for a lousy $40 for a parts car. It had sat for well over 8 years before I bought it and was covered in tree sap etc... It looked rather rough. I got it home and was going to tear into it for parts when I brushed up against it and noticed it really had good white paint under all that crap. I washed it all up and had a friend come over to detail and buff it out and it was in great shape compared to the one that I had already twisted all up due to the rather healthy motor I had in it. Then it became my better street car and ran 12.97's out the gates. I will never part with it due to it's history. Now I have tubbed it all out and waiting on the body work to get finished. It should be a 8 or 9 second car once completed.

The pics shown here are when I first put it together with a lot less parts and only @ 400 HP. This was @ around the time Too Wong Fu was released from from the Movie Theaters. The car has been waiting on the body work to be completed for over three years now. I cannot rush him as he has won Best Body and Paint at one of the SEMA shows. It's in good hands !!! P.S. The 68 Mustang next my Tazmanian Devil was a buddies of mune that I helped work on. It had a 351 Cleveland in it with a 4-speed. Too bad he sold it for $2800 and I could have killed him.

Note: There will also be a NOS Cheater system on board as well as I already have it.

Exhaust -- Rare set of Heddman Hustler 3 piece hedders with 1 3/4" primaries and 3" adjustable length collectors. These are no longer made by Heddman. I had them Jet Hot coated. I run them straight into Flow Tech 3" Warlock mufflers.

Chassis -- Chassis Engineering back half kit with a 12 point roll cage. Sub frame connectors were tied into the front sub frame similar to a full frame car. Stock front end with 5 lug rotors. PST polygraphite bushings.

Interior -- Custom sheet metal and aluminum floors, RCI red seats with custom Grey cloth seat covers. RCI 5pt harnesses, Interior will be handled in black or grey carpet ( Not there yet) and a custom dash with all Auto Meter gauges. It will have all the safety items for drag racing. Grey ribbon window net. The cage has been painted Pearl Black Cherry but may be changed to Ice Silver.

Exterior -- This will include many body mods like recessed door handles out of a newer Chrysler, hatch tilting to the passenger side, all original glass, custom hood scoop, and all original metal panels with the exception of new rear quarters and a little modifying to the wheel well openings and lip to fit the BIG tires under the car. Paint is to be Chrysler Pearl Black Cherry with custom graphics. All body work is being done at Basik Street Rods and Muscle Cars in Santa Rosa, CA by my brother so some things are even a surprise to me. It will retain a factory rear spoiler. The rear bumper is fiberglass but all remaining panels are factory. We decided to keep the factory glass in it too.

Fuel System -- is all handled with a Magna Fuel Prostar 500 system, regulators, and all hoses are braided with AN fittings. Car has an 8 gallon RCI cell under the rear aluminum bead rolled floor.

Electrical is handled with two Optima batteries located under the aluminum floor in the hatch. All fuse panels are custom made and use the ATO fuses.

Estimated to run in the mid to low 9's off the spray and very high 8's using a NOS Cheater system. As a factory bodied car it only weighs 2505 without me in it. If I would have kept the fiberglass parts on it it would have weighed around 2250 -2300 lbs. Most of the weight on these cars is in the hatch and doors.

Factory Options for “Tazmanian Devil”

This was originally a 4 cyclinder car with a metric 200 automatic trans. Not much there but it was a starting point. 13" wheels and a puny 7.5" ring geared 10 bolt rearend with 2.42 gears. The interior had a floor shifter and bucket seats.

Mods for “Tazmanian Devil”

So many mods since I started but it is now intended for show. This car is still in work at the body shop. I bought all fiberglass body parts for it but once I bought a new chassis (chrome moly) I decided to put all original body parts back this the car.

This car has had two or three different motors in it since I bought it. All being 350 SB Chevies.